Buster baseball drops series finale

Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Garden City Broncbusters wrapped up the four-game weekend series with Longview, MO on Sunday, with hopes of winning their final weekend series of the regular season. A combination of errors and the inability to drive runners home in scoring position cost the Busters in a 15-7 setback in extremely windy conditions at Williams Stadium.

Longview got on the board first on a two-run single in the first inning by Zach Morgan, that drove in a pair of runs. Garden City responded with two of their own in the bottom of the first as Kaleb Zimmer drove in Tyler Tucker, and Nolan Barrientos scored on an error to tie the game at two after the first inning. The Lakers responded back with two more in the second inning, and led 4-2 after two innings, after the Busters were retired in order. In the bottom of the third, Garden City pulled to within a run at 4-3, as Barrientos drove in Rocky Desantis on a two-out double. That was the closest the Busters would be the rest of the game. 

In the fourth inning, Longview added four runs, all coming with two outs. Zach Morgan’s two-run home run capped off a four-run fourth inning for the Lakers. They would extend their lead to 14-4 in the top of the eighth. Garden City scored one run in the bottom of the inning to extend the game an additional inning, on a two-out single by Zimmer that scored Dalton Cook. The Lakers picked up a lead-off solo home run by Jamie Graeser in the top of the ninth, and the Busters tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the ninth, and dropped their second straight game to Longview. In six of the nine innings, the Lakers lead-off batter scored. The Busters left 10 on the bases, including leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning.

For Longview, Corey Beard went five innings, giving up four runs on nine hits, and struck out five. Jamie Graeser was 2-5 with five RBI, while Zach Morgan drove in four runs. Garden City starter Jake Eikleberry took the loss, lasting four innings, surrendering eight runs, seven earned on six hits with six strikeouts. Kaleb Zimmer drove in three runs, and Nolan Barrientos and Tyler Alitz had three hits each. 

Garden City will have one more game before Region XI play, as they will host Lamar Tuesday afternoon for a nine inning game. The Busters finished second in the Jayhawk west, and will host Independence Saturday and Sunday in a Region XI Regional, in a best of three series.